The Challenge All Over Again
by LightRayPearlshipper
Summary: Ash is disappointed with his league losses and decides to take the pokemon league challenges all over again an Dawn and Brock join him. He comes across many challenges over his new journey and finally quenches the rage he still had from getting his first badges out of pity or gratuity. However, what happens when the evil teams of the four regions unite? PS, rated T for language.


**Me: Hello and welcome to my third fanfic. For once, it doesn't have Tobias in it… or maybe I'm tricking you.**

**Ash: Why do you like Tobias so much, Michael:**

**Me: Well, let's see. First, he can kick your ass. Second, his legendary team is beast. Third, he might actually stand a chance against my platinum team of all level 100 legendary pokemon which weren't hacked but had hacked rare candies. Fourth, his Darkrai can kick ass against any team even though it isn't as epic as a shiny Rayquaza. And finally, Tobias is awesome even though he was the most BS thing that your creators decided to make so they could split you up with Dawn, take away your OP team, and send you to Unova.**

**Ash: Argh! *Yells at sky* I HATE YOU SATOSHI!**

**Me: But your name in Japanese is Satoshi so you hate yourself. That's confusing.**

**Ash: I MEAN SATOSHI TAJIRI!**

**Dawn: Calm down, Ash. *Turns to me* Is this a Pearlshipping one?**

**Me: Yes it is. Although I do like the idea of one-sided Pokeshipping and Advancedshipping.**

**Dawn: How are you going to implement that?**

**Me: Oh, I have my ways. If I told you now, I would give away the whole plot! Anyways, this is my first story that doesn't have Tobias in it.**

**Ash: Good. I hate his Darkrai and his Latios reminds me too much of Latios from Altomare.**

**Dawn: What? Where's that?**

**Me: It's a city in Johto. Anyways Ash, it's your turn this time.**

**Ash: Darn. Michael doesn't own us so please don't sue him.**

"Reshiram! Finish this with Fusion Flare!"

"Pikachu! Full power Thunderbolt!"

_BOOOOOOOOM!_

There was great explosion in the sky blocking the view of everyone trying to see the result of the final battle. Finally, after what seemed like hours to our raven-haired hero, the dust cleared away. The Vast White pokemon of truth was still standing barely as was Ash's Pikachu. A mental understanding passed between the two very powerful pokemon. Reshiram grimaced and Ash saw this and smirked. Then, to his disbelief, Pikachu fell to the ground, fainted.

"PIKACHUUUUUUUUUU!"

"Pikachu is unable to battle," the referee called. "Reshiram wins. Therefore, the victory and the title of Vertree Conference Champion goes to N!

"An amazing final battle of fierce determination and strength!" called the MC. "Great willpower was shown in this battle, both pokemon determined to win the Vertree Conference. Ultimately Reshiram won in an amazing fashion!"

In the stands, Ash's friends were simply in shock as he fell to his knees on the battlefield. _'It can't be!'_ thought Dawn, Ash's bluenette friend from Sinnoh as the MC's words went in one ear and out the other. Down on the battlefield, N walked over to Ash and gave him a hand.

"Well fought," he remarked. "I actually thought that Pikachu might defeat Reshiram." Ash simply nodded. "Why are you crying? A loss is nothing to cry about. A loss is a learning experience. It strengthens the bond between a trainer and pokemon."

"FIVE YEARS!" Ash yelled, loud enough that the entire stadium could hear him. "I'VE TRAINED FOR FIVE YEARS JUST TO WIN A SINGLE LEAGUE. I EVEN ENTERED THE ORANGE ISLAND'S FREAKING HALL OF FAME! BUT WHERE HAVE I GOTTEN?!" By this time, everyone was listening to his loss speech. "YEAR ONE IN KANTO – LOST IN THE TOP SIXTEEN BECAUSE CHARIZARD WOULDN'T LISTEN. YEAR TWO IN JOHTO – STOPPED IN THE TOP 8 BY SOME GUY FROM HOENN. YEAR THREE IN HOENN – LOST IN THE THE TOP 8 AGAIN BY A CLOSE FRIEND. YEAR FOUR IN SINNOH – ONE OF THE BEST BUT STOPPED IN THE SEMI-FINALS BY A TEAM OF ALL FREAKING LEGENDARY POKEMON. YEAR FIVE HERE IN UNOVA – STOPPED BY ANOTHER FREAKING LEGENDARY!"

Ash picked up Pikachu from the razed battle field and ran out of the stadium without another word. Up in the stands, Dawn and Brock were talking.

"Do you think I should follow him?" asked Dawn.

"No," said Cilan. "He needs to calm down or you might get hurt."

"No need to worry. I always get to him. Even if I have to use force."

"Just don't hurt him. And be careful."

"What a kid," Iris said.

"Which one?" Cilan asked.

"Both of them. They're both so childish. But I can tell that they really like each other."

As everyone slowly recovered from the shock of his speech, Dawn sneaked out of the stadium. Once outside, she thought she saw Ash walking into the forest, crying. So she followed him. Eventually it got to dark so she had Quilava light up the path. After following the path for a few minutes, she found him sitting on a bench with Pikachu. Apparently Pikachu was trying to comfort him.

"Why does this have to happen every time?" he asked his partner, Pikachu. "What makes this even more humiliating is that it was by another legendary pokemon and Dawn was watching again. We've came across so many legendaries on our journeys. I'm not willing to go back to catch them. They belong where they are." Dawn overheard what Ash was saying but decided not to show herself yet. "But it's honestly not the losing part that gets me upset. It's that I lost in front of Dawn again and I showed a temper tantrum." She was shocked by his words and couldn't believe what she was hearing, but managed to stay calm. Finally, after listening a little more, she revealed herself from the bushes she was hiding in.

"Ash, I've been looking for you for a while," she said. "You need to get back for the closing ceremony!"

"Dawn!" He was shocked. "How much did you hear of what I said?"

"That's not important right now. What is important is that we get you back to the stadium for the closing ceremony."

"Right!" They began to run towards the stadium

While they were running, Ash managed to squeeze out the words he asked her earlier. "So, how… how much did you hear?"

"Not much," she lied. "Just some stuff about legendaries and things."

Being dense, Ash believed her. After another minute of running, Ash made it into the stadium just in time.

"And now as we put out the fire of the fighting spirit of trainers let us celebrate another great year of battling!" The ceremony went on while in the crowd, Cilan and Iris were asking Dawn how she calmed him down.

"Well, I found him in the forest and kind of just talked to him. His face was really red from the crying. Eventually he calmed down and ran back to the stadium. So here we are now."

"He's such a little kid," said Iris.

"Still, he did cook up quite a meal with his strong spices," Cilan examined in his nearly undecipherable connoisseur language. Down where the participants were, all 256, N was giving his victory speech. Stuff about his bond with Reshiram and his dreams to seek the truth of human-pokemon relationships. To Ash it sounded creepy. Pokemon were his friends and he would never think of them as anything different. Finally, the end of the ceremony came. The four friends headed outside, chatting about where to go next.

"I think I must go back to my brothers in Striaton City," Cilan said. "I'd like to see the fiery spices that our new chefs are cooking up."

"Awww, Cilan. I was hoping you could come with me to help me become a Dragon Master," Iris complained. "Dragonite and I are getting along better but we're still a little shaky."

"Iris! Master Iris!" a voice called in the distance. It turned out to be Dragon Master Dragford.

"Master Dragford!" Iris yelled. "What is it? And don't call me master. I'm not a Dragon Master yet and you are."

"Master Drayden sent me to deliver a message," he replied. "I bring terrible news. Drayden is resigning from his position as gym leader."

"What? That means the Opelucid Gym will be leaderless!"

"However, he has chosen a successor." _'Who could it be?' _Iris thought. _'I hope it's me but Drayden wouldn't choose me. I'm not even a Dragon master yet!'_ Dragford continued. "The successor he has chosen is… you, Iris. He believes you have grown in many ways from the little immature girl from his training school."

Iris simply stood, shocked. It was her dream come true, pretty much. She was not only becoming a Dragon Master, but the HEAD Dragon Master.

"That's great, Iris," Ash said. "Your dream has finally come true!"

"But- but I still need my friends," Iris protested. "I'm not ready yet!"

"Drayden has already signed the league papers succeeding the Gym Leader responsibilities to you. He said another reason for retiring is that he feels he is becoming too old for doing gym battles."

"Iris, you must follow your path," Cilan told her. "Your taste buds will sharpen through this experience giving you a better sense of a spicy battle."

Iris thought on this for a while before she came up with an answer. Finally, she answered, "I'll do it."

"I guess you won't be coming to Kanto with me," Ash said. "I wanted you and Cilan to see the other regions outside of Unova."

"Actually, my brothers have been calling me back to Striaton" Cilan replied. "They were having a slight problem with the challengers. And I think Iris has to follow her fate."

"Really? What kind of problems?" Ash and Iris asked at the same time.

"People challenging the gyms have to only defeat one of them so it's getting unbalanced. What's making it even more unbalanced is that the challenger gets to choose if he or she will be facing Cress or Chili. Our badge has become something too easy to earn."

"I understand, Cilan," said Ash. "I guess I'll be returning with just Dawn, then. Well, bye Iris. It's been nice traveling with you."

"Yeah, Iris. It's been nice to get to know you," Dawn added. Everybody hugged Iris even though Cilan would still be in the same region, although not being able to travel.

"Goodbye."

Iris slowly walked away from the group following Master Dragford. Then, suddenly Cilan called out to her.

"Iris!" She turned around to look back at Cilan. "I have something to tell you before you leave." He paused dramatically. "My feelings burn inside me like a master chef cooking up flames. Iris, I know I will not see you for a while but I must tell you this… I love you." Everyone stood shocked. Then Iris ran back to him and said four words.

"I love you too. Sure, your connoisseur talk and rambling can be annoying sometimes, but-"

She was cut off by Cilan kissing her. It lasted about 3 minutes but for the new couple it felt like hours. Ash and Dawn looked at them in envy then at each other. They quickly realized what the other was doing, blushed, and looked away.

"When I get back to Striaton City, I will call you."

"I'll look forward to it." And with that, Iris ran back to Dragford and left for Opelucid City.

"We should get going," Ash said. "It's a long way back to Undella Town. Let's pass through Undella Town and catch the ferry that Dawn came on."

"Your right," Dawn agreed. "But it's late right now. Let's head over to Opelucid and stay at the pokemon center there. It's not too far from here."

"Alright," the guys agreed.

After a couple hours of walking, they finally got to the pokemon center in Opelucid. However, everyone was tired so they just crashed on their beds in the room they all got. The next morning after breakfast, they departed for Undella Town, no pit stops. Some people challenged Ash to a battle because he was a finalist in the Unova league and wanted to accept but Dawn reminded him that they had to go to Undella Town. After about 5 days including the short time in Lacunosa Town, they finally reached the port in Undella Town.

"Well Cilan. I guess this is goodbye," said Ash. "I really enjoyed out time traveling through Unova."

"Yeah, I enjoyed it too even though I came mainly to support Ash through the Unova League," Dawn added.

They both hugged their green-headed friend. "Goodbye," Cilan said softly. "Over the course of our travels, your skills as a battle chef have grown. I hope the next time we meet you will be a full-fledged master chef. Again, goodbye."

As they got on to the ferry that they bought tickets for, Cilan looked at Ash then Dawn. "You know, you two would make a cute couple," he called out. They quickly turned red.

"We're not a couple!"

"Just kidding. Goodbye!" And Cilan left the port leaving Ash and Dawn wondering if he really was just kidding or used that as an excuse and felt like they should be dating.

**(A/N): Normally I wouldn't do this, but I'm going to skip talking about the ferry ride because nothing happened.**

Ash looked into the distance towards the approaching Kanto shore. It had been a long ride, about 10 hours. During that time, Dawn mostly slept and Ash was in the battle room training with his Unova pokemon. Finally, they docked.

"Land ahoy!" Ash said contently as he stretched out on the banks of Vermillion City. "It's nice to be back in Kanto. Maybe we can see how everyone else is doing?" he asked his faithful Pikachu.

"Pika."

"I wanna see your other pokemon first before we go to your house," Dawn said.

"It's getting kind of late. I know you slept on the ship but I was battling. Let's just stay at the pokemon center here in Vermillion for tonight."

"Pi," Pikachu agreed.

As they walked from the port to the pokemon center in Vermillion city, Dawn was asking about what he would do now that he finished all of the known regions.

"I actually don't really know," Ash responded. "I've been through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and even Unova."

"I see. I wanna do the contest circuits in Kanto and Johto," Dawn said. "I went through Hoenn while you were in Unova."

"Mhmm." They had arrived at the pokemon center. "Here we are." The two walked inside.

"Nurse Joy, we'd like a two-bed room for tonight."

She looked at the computer then handed them a key card from a drawer. "Here you go. Enjoy your night, young couple."

"We're not a couple!" Ash retorted with a blush. "We're just friends!" Dawn seemed a little disappointed by this.

"Okay."

They headed towards their room, room 5, and crashed on the bed. Well, Ash did. Dawn wasn't tired because she slept on the ferry ride so she got up from her bed and looked out the window into the streets of Kanto's Vermillion City. As she listened to Ash snoring, she was in deep thought about a number of matters. Eventually, her find thought about Ash.

'_He's so cute when he snores. Wait! I did not just say that. How can I think like that about my best friend! But then, what else could this feeling be when I'm around him. I guess I'm still in denial even though I know I like him.'_

After a couple hours of thinking, she began to feel the fatigue of the night so she went over to Ash and made sure that he didn't stir. Then she bent down and gave him a quick kiss and "Good Night" before going over to her bed and falling asleep.

**Me: Well, that's the chapter. Did you like the Wishfulshipping I added there?**

**Cilan: It was cool but there weren't many events to show that it was going to be added.**

**Me: It's not a major shipping so I decided to just be lazy and leave it like that.**

**Iris: You're such a kid.**

**Me: First, you should be glad I made you a gym leader and second, aren't those words meant for someone else?**

**Ash: Hey!**

**Iris: I suppose so.**

**Ash: I'm gonna fine you for saying that!**

**Me: *Sigh**

**Dawn: Don't turn into Barry. He's so annoying when he does that.**

**Barry: Hey! I'm gonna fine you, Dawn!**

**Me: GET OFF MY SET OR YOU WON'T APPEAR IN THE SINNOH ARC! The Sinnoh arc won't happen for a while. And by a while, I mean maybe years, months if I'm fast. Security, take him away.**

**Guard 1: Yes, sir!**

**Me: Anyways, R&R, no flames on the reviews, please. I like reading reviews that are helpful but not bossy. Michael out**


End file.
